The Avengers vs Silent Hill: The Archer
by Breadcrumbz
Summary: After Tony Stark goes missing, Clint Barton is sent out on mission to try and find him. In the process, he comes across the town of Silent Hill and nothing could have prepared him for what he found. Told from Clint's POV.
1. Prologue

-PROLOGUE-

Did you know that, sometimes, being an Avenger is pretty damn weird? Well it is. We battle time-travellers, alien invaders, would-be world conquerors, giant monsters, radioactive science freaks... Uh, no offense to those on the team who may or may not be on that list but that kind of thing is weird. But lemme tell you one thing: of all the messed up shit I've seen as an Avenger, there is nothing you can do or say that will make me go into that town again. I'm still trying to come up with a reason why it wasn't real.

What happened was that Tony Stark went missing. Can't really remember the details anymore but basically we'd been in contact with Stark as he was on mission, and then we lost all contact with him. All contact. Even JARVIS wasn't responding, which was confusing as if Tony had just been compromised then JARVIS would still work, right? So someone had to go and look for the expected dead billionaire, even though I was certain Stark had just pissed off on holiday because he'd given up on his mission – it would explain why JARVIS was switched off. It would make sense for him to up and leave in silence, too, as Tony was the one who created the mission in the first place, and he had way too much pride to admit he didn't want to do it anymore. Anyway. The next thing I knew was that I was asking around secluded villages in West Virginia for any sign of Tony Stark; Natasha screaming at me through a walkie-talkie (ok, maybe not screaming but she just kept bossing me around even when she wasn't there) and I eventually ended up on this old foggy road in the middle of the woods. So, anyway, I've been instructed by Mr Furious to give an account of what happened – because let's just say, things got a little out of hand – and so here it is. You're reading it. Ain't you a special snowflake?


	2. Chapter One

-CHAPTER ONE-

"Welcome to Silent Hill..." I read aloud. At least I think that's what it said, considering the fog was so thick it was like someone had thrown bags of flour into the air. The words were on an old and rusted sign which stood by a just-as-old and worn-out road I'd spent the past hour walking down, as no one would give me a lift. They said the road was closed. Sure it was. Assholes. To be honest, I seriously doubted Tony would even be here as he'd have to walk on his own and the town had obviously been abandoned for years – decades, even – as who in their right mind would let their sign get in such a state? The paint was chipping off and the font was so...old-fashioned. It said it was some kind of tourist town, and I had a guess as to why it eventually ran out of business: _all this god damn fog._

With a sigh, I picked up my radio and switched frequencies to S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ as, really, I wanted to stand around in front of some creepy town and have Nat yell at me more, because the search for this pissy billionaire was getting a little old now. "Are you sure Stark's in here? There's no way he could get lost in this town for a week – he'd just get bored." It wasn't long until I heard Natasha's static-y (static-y? Is that even a word?) sigh coming from the other end. She so wanted me.

"Yes. Data shows he was last in this area and you've already checked the surrounding towns. Stop being a baby and check it out." I think I was entitled to make a face at that because, really, I am not a baby. It just looked like a complete waste of time. Honestly, that town wasn't scary I just knew Stark wouldn't be there.

"Fine, 'Tasha. This'll probably take a day or so – I'll radio-in in a few hours if I don't walk into something and knock myself out in all this damn fog." I didn't get a reply which, if I'm kinda honest, upset me a little. I didn't want to wander around a town where the air was so musty is would stick to the back of your throat. There's no way Tony would stay here that long because he'd complain about the smell of brick-dust and, well, I suppose it was a little creepy spending a lot of time in an abandoned town. Obviously I wasn't frightened, it's just that when you've seen as many films as I have that are set in towns like this, you start to associate them with zombie apocalypses.

Of course, everyone knows zombies aren't real – if they were we'd have fought them already – but becoming part of the walking dead isn't high on my to-do list. I let out a long sigh and started to wade through the fog into the creepy town, as if I stood still much longer Natasha would find out and would imply I was frightened. I swear I wasn't, I just didn't feel like wasting two days of my life in a dull and lifeless town. If Stark was in there I would not be in the mood for any of his pissy bullshit.

It hadn't taken long to reach a junction in the city centre and by this time I felt ridiculous for saying that this town was creepy. Really, when I said it was creepy, I meant that it was _fucking_creepy. The sound of my footsteps would echo off the walls in such a way that it sounded exactly like someone was behind me. Obviously there wasn't as when I stopped, so did the footsteps and there was no breathing. No noise. Nothing. Just fog and more fog and more fog... I didn't turn around to check, I knew nothing was there, but everyone knows that when you check to see if something's behind you in a zombie town that they got you. That's the exact moment they got you. I wasn't going to let them get me.

This town was playing tricks on me. I hadn't realised that so much fog could make you draw your bow constantly (I'd taken to carrying it around in my hands, I was that jumpy). Honestly, I actually defended myself against a fire hydrant. It had threatened to spray me with water – of course I had to protect myself. It's not like I thought it was a person covered in blood or anything. It was at this point, when I was stood deciding whether to go left into constant fog or right into constant fog, that I decided it would be best to get myself a map, otherwise I'd just get lost. I radio'd into headquarters to request a satellite scan and had to wait for them to process it. The waiting was probably the worst part as here I was, stood in a four-way junction with zero visibility. I haven't told many people this but, naturally, I'm about 80% deaf so losing my most valuable gift of sight was starting to get to me. I wouldn't be able to hear people sneaking up on me if it wasn't for these hearing aids that Stark had designed. That was pretty ironic, I thought. Don't think people would agree with me. It had probably only been two minutes and I'd already resorted to checking over my shoulders (yeah I know I said not to do that, but being a sitting duck is worse) and pacing a little when I heard a loud, crackle of static.

Jesus, I dropped the radio when I heard it, the casing clicking on the tarmac. Shit. I fumbled to pick it up again, praying it wasn't broken.

"...sorry...fog...unable...location...back to you..."

Then the static stopped and the radio fell silent.

Hah.

That was pretty ironic too. 'Silent'. As in the name of the town. This place was definitely silent and I'd now broken my radio. Great. This was just great. Well, Stark could wait for a moment – I needed to find myself a map if I was going to do a full sweep of this town. It was at that moment, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned, grabbed an arrow and readied my bow – keeping my back straight and taking calming breaths to stay focused and dear god, I hoped it wasn't another fire hydrant. I hoped it was Tony so I could get the hell out of here, but the movement was fast and—

It was a piece of paper. Exhaling, I shook my head and allowed the tension to leave me. Look at me. The World's Greatest Marksman losing my cool over a piece of paper. I put the arrow back into my quiver and looked at the signpost above my head, even if I had to squint to make out the letters. In the end, I went right because that lead onto Townstreet and I figured there would be a tourist information store in the middle of town. It was a tourist resort, after all. I still don't get why anyone would come here for a vacation...

When I said this town was silent, I really wasn't kidding. There wasn't a single living thing there besides me – not even animals and that worried me. I'd been to abandoned towns before, I've lived in places more run-down than this, and there were always animals. Rats. Birds. The odd dog. But here? It's like everything abandoned it in fear.

I wanted to abandon it in fear, but I had a mission. I couldn't stop because I was freaking myself out. Thankfully, Townstreet did turn out to be the town centre and there was a huge map on the wall, but all the hand maps had been soaked from the rain... I didn't get that. They were still soaking but the air was so dry (how can dry air have fog in it?) that it was starting to hurt my throat, so you'd expect them to have dried by now. Either way, the outside ones were ruined and the large map was covered in grime so it was pretty useless past telling me that this town was much larger than it first appeared. If this took more than two days, I might have to call in reinforcements. Even if it was just for the company, as I wouldn't want to accidentally shoot Tony for being the first living thing here.

Figuring there would probably be some maps in the building, and guessing that no one really cared if I broke in, I kicked the front door down (the wood was rotten but it was still pretty badass) and started to rifle around the mess on the floor. That was confusing too. Some of the stores were boarded up, but after a quick look through the windows I could see that they were just as messy. The streets were too. Piles of crumbling bricks and torn up pieces of paper. It was like something had come along and destroyed everything. Maybe it had and that was why everyone had left. I don't know. The thought was freaking me out so I concentrated on finding a map - which was eventually found inside a magazine and yes, this town was huge - and then figured that I couldn't be alone in this town.

It just didn't make any sense. I kept having this feeling that I was being watched but how could anything see me through all this fog? If I couldn't see it, then it couldn't see me, right? Well, if it had some high-tech Stark scanning technology then maybe it could see me... Stark wouldn't play a prank on me, would he? He's not sick enough to do that as I drew my bow at a _piece of paper_. I would call out to see if he was around, however everyone knows not to give your position away. Plus zombies are drawn to loud noises.

Ah shit. The door made a loud noise when I broke it. I quickly made my way out of the building, prepared to draw my bow at anything which might want to eat my brains, but there was nothing there. Really, I did not like this place one bit and how long had I even been there for? I checked my watch and, honest to god, nearly freaked when it read 3PM. I'd been in here for three hours now. That was impossible. I wasn't walking slowly, even with the occasional heart-attack over nothing, and it hadn't taken long to get into town.

This town made no fucking sense. Well, it had been a few hours and I did tell Nat I would radio-in, I just prayed that the radio wasn't as broken as it appeared to be. Maybe the speaker was simply broken so I couldn't hear her reply but could still transmit something. It was worth a try either way as I needed to know if my radio worked. If it didn't, that really wasn't good if this place did turn out to be a zombie-infested town. There'd be no way of signalling backup. Switching the radio on, my stomach sank when I didn't hear the usual screech telling me it would send signals. It was only letting out a violent static and I was afraid it was going to blow up at any moment due to a bad connection between two wires.

I still needed to try, though...

"Hey Nat, just signalling in to say there's no sign of Stark so far and, by the looks of it, the radio's totalled so I won't get your reply. Haven't encountered a single thing and for god's sake this is completely pointless." I sighed into the busted radio. My voice was alarmingly loud as it rang out through the town - it was probably the only sound for miles - and there was no way Natasha was getting any of it. That was when I got a reply. The sound was laced with static and I nearly dropped the radio again when it flared into life; I knew one thing even with all the static: there was no way that _wailing_was human. Maybe I started to hyperventilate a little through my panic and my attempts to turn the radio off.

_But it wasn't turning off, jesus, my radio was __**possessed**_.

The only logical solution in that situation was to get the hell out of there before a zombie horde was attracted to the area. I dropped the radio on the ground - no way was I taking it with me - and flipped through the map as quickly as I could (paper cuts be damned) to find the fastest route out of there. There was no way Tony would be there if his technology was malfunctioning like mine was, as Tony wasn't stupid. He knew he needed his tech. Imagining a possessed JARVIS was terrifying.

Well, luckily there was a highway nearby that led out of town so I sure as hell didn't stick around and, after shoving the map into my jacket pocket, I walked (ok, so I was running but you don't understand how badly I was freaking out in there. You would do the same. I just wanted to leave) down a road to my right. I was in that much of a rush that I tripped over my own feet half a mile down it, landing face-first on the dusty ground with a painful blow to my ribs. Sure knocked the wind out of me and only made me panic more. I couldn't believe I'd fallen over. Me. An ex-carnie. Tripping over myself. I don't think I'd been that scared since-

And the panic was at an all-time high because it was just then that I realised I was looking down into a bottomless chasm and, if I hadn't fallen over like an idiot, I probably would have run straight into it due to all the fog and, jesus, how deep did it go? There was no bottom to it that I could see and what looked like a massive tree had fallen into it without reaching the top. Dear god, it was like looking down at the ground through a bunch of clouds; the road had just collapsed entirely. There was no way past it and I just laid on the ground staring into it, wondering how on Earth that could have happened. It was like a mine had caved-in, but what I wanted to know was why anyone would build a town on top of a mine? Or mine under a town, even. I don't know. Maybe this was why people had left the town... How was this a tourist town again?

Managing to pull myself up, and ignoring the pain in my chest whilst doing so, I dusted my uniform down and hoped the rest of the town wouldn't end up like that road. Upon thinking that, a metal dustbin in a nearby alley fell over with such a loud clash that, once again, I jumped out of my skin and drew my bow. Seriously, if this was another road collapsing in on itself due to an aftershock I would be in trouble.

Oh, wait. The ground wasn't shaking. Shit. Please don't be something scary.

I readied an arrow, went to investigate and, when I saw a scruffy brown mutt just sniffing at rubbish, I couldn't help but let out a breath of relief that I didn't know I was holding in until then. It was just a dog. The worst thing that would happen is that I'd get rabies or something, but I'd had all my jabs so it was fine. I'd be fine. Heck, the mutt reminded me of my dear pizza dog, Lucky, so it made me smile a little. Around then, I wondered if Kate had been feeding him whilst I was out on mission... I lowered my bow and went to find another way out of town when it turned to look at me.

Jesus fucking christ I felt like I was going to throw up what the fucking hell happened to it? Immediately, I drew my bow again and started to shake my head because what the _fuck?_ It was... It's fucking _face_ had been ripped off, showing the sore inflamed mangle of red muscle which surrounded teeth that had stained black from all the rot. But that wasn't just it, someone had attempted to patch it up. Rather crudely if you ask me. It... It was...

_It was with a piece of - what the fuck - a piece of porcelain._They'd fixed it into place with - fuck - with barbed wire. I'm not sure if I did throw up or not, I probably did, and it was missing an eye just like pizza dog. There was no way this was pizza dog though. I didn't even know if it was a dog. It was at that point I noticed its legs - christ - the bone was sticking out of a jagged wound from its second...first joint? I don't know dog anatomy but I wondered how I didn't notice that before, because that looked painful, and how did it even stand upright?

Then it... made a noise and took a step forward. The noise it made, it wasn't a bark, was unlike any sound I'd heard in my entire life and I'd heard an awful lot of noises before my ears were fucked up. I could hear this noise fine though. I'm not even sure how I would describe it, but it was like a guttural snarling that crackled like a firework? The weirdest and craziest thing about it was that it wasn't a constant noise like you'd expect, no, it would reach maximum volume and then suddenly stop, skipping back to the start like a broken record.

There was no fucking way that was a dog. When it took a few steps forward, making that horrific sound, there was also no fucking way my arrow was staying in my hands. It hit the ground with a thud and I didn't let go of my bow because it was the only thing stopping my hand from shaking. The temptation to put another arrow in it was strong but, dear god, whatever it was I just hoped that it was dead. Maybe the fog had been messing with my eyes, as _nothing_could look that bad but, even if it didn't look like that, I knew I definitely heard that noise. Stark's tech didn't malfunction - everyone knew that - so my hearing aids were fine. Plus, my yell of 'what the fuck' still sounded like me. God, it was as if I could still hear that noise - that's how messed up it had been.

Wait.

I _could_ still hear it. Where was it coming from? The thing in front of me had to be dead - the arrow went right between its eyes and out the back of its head. My heart was hammering as I quickly scanned the fog for any movement but I couldn't see anything. I couldn't _see._Jesus, I shouted when I finally made out some shadows through the fog at the end of the alley and really? It had a pack? Oh great, there were zombie dogs out to get me and there was no way you could outrun dogs. Everyone fucking knows a human can't outrun dogs. Even dogs with bones sticking out of their legs oh what the fucking hell was going on.

I did not want to get bitten and turn into a zombie as that did not sound fun. I had to think. I could kill then if I had to but I didn't want to waste arrows like that if there were these things here and, hey, there was still the chance of getting bitten. That's the thing about the bow and arrow. There was no way in hell I would miss, I never miss - even in a fog like this, but it would take time to set up aim on a moving target like that and why was I stood there thinking about that? These things were running towards me. Shaking my head free of thoughts, I looked around for any doors I could slip into.

None. Great. They probably would have been boarded up or locked anyway but I did notice a fire-escape ladder leading up to a metal balcony. You have no idea how thankful I was that dogs couldn't climb or that I was raised by carnies. I used to be ashamed of that, but no-one but a carnie acrobat would be able to make the jump for the ladder and then lift themselves up. Just in time, too, as those dogs had knocked over the dustbins. I sat there for a while collecting my thoughts together as there was no way in hell these things existed and yet, when I looked down, they were right there. Of course they would be there. I don't know dog anatomy but I do know a thing or two about dogs and they'd all sit and wait for me to climb down from there. Damn creatures. I'd have to use my arrows if I wanted to leave - there was a window but it was likely to be locked.

...What was I thinking? It was made of glass - I could just break in if I had to. See? That was how much my thoughts had been scrambled if I, Hawkeye, master of breaking into places, didn't know you could smash a glass window in an abandoned town. When I opened the window (it wasn't even locked) I came face-to-face with the murkiest air I had ever had the unpleasant privilege of breathing in. It was staler than the air outside and trust me, that was pretty stale.

OK. The town really had been abandoned for years and it was likely to do with these zombie dogs. Speaking of zombie dogs, when I opened the window the pack had run off and... that dead one wasn't there anymore. Really, I didn't want to know where it had gone as I didn't want to think about how a zombie could move once its brain had been damaged. You always went for the zombie's head to kill it. There was no way I was climbing down there, even if they had apparently left, because dogs didn't run off. I'd watched enough nature programmes back at Stark Tower to know that.

That thought didn't sit well with me. Would I ever get to see Stark Tower again? I could get out of this town, sure, but without being able to call transport those dogs could easily follow me back and, if I didn't find Stark - wherever the hell he was, there was a high chance the tower would be bought by some other company and I'd have to go back to living in S.H.I.E.L.D housing. It honestly was as bad as it sounded.

Right. It was time to see if there was another way out from there.


End file.
